Events, Host Broadcast & Media Services Case Study 

​​Afghanistan - The London Conference

“a model operation, facilities both in Green Park and inside Lancaster House, exactly what we needed and we could not have asked for more”

A J Humphries, OBE, Assistant Director, Protocol

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

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On January 28th 2​010 the international community came together to fully align military and civilian resources behind an Afghan-led political strategy at Afghanistan – The London Conference.

The conference was attended by Foreign ministers from International Security Assistance Force partners, Afghanistan’s immediate neighbours and key regional players, as well as representatives from NATO, the United Nations, the EU, and the World Bank.
Featuring opening remarks from President Hamid Karzai, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Prime Minister Gordon Brown, David Miliband, Rangin Spanta and Kai Eide also chaired sessions on Security, Governance and Development and a Regional Framework/International Architecture.

Feltech were appointed Host Broadcaster, and staged the event working closely with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
In an exceptionally tight timeframe of just 5 working weeks, the 850 strong team from Feltech produced an international event for 80 delegations at Lancaster House, and simultaneously created a bespoke Media Village in Green Park to provide seamless coverage and facilities to the worlds media.
 

The Media Village incorporated a Media Centre & Press Conference facilities to accommodate and host over 800 national and international media, including provision for 66 edit suites, four television studios, 20 radio booths, 4 radio studios, and custom built host broadcast Master Control Room – all delivered under a strict security regime to reflect the raised national security threat.
Feltech’s Host Broadcast team combined expertise, experience and dedication to deliver the event despite the average temperature for the pre production period only just tipping into single figures, and the worst snowfall for many years.
 

The event boasted a UN style meeting room in Lancaster House to host the day’s discussions, which were simultaneously translated into 7 languages, whilst the supporting media centre provided comprehensive facilities to enable international TV and Radio broadcasters to film, record, edit and transmit the

coverage, press conferences, interviews and other media opportunities.
 

Three pre-lit, fully functional stand up platforms were created, around the site, providing up to 50 camera positions, complete with fibre links to MCR and the ability to transmit live; these included a double-decker platform in front of Lancaster House itself to allow coverage of the delegates’ arrival.
 

Feltech provided unbiased host broadcast coverage, and presented equal coverage of all delegations, including arrivals, informal meetings and coverage of the conference itself. The technical installation to facilitate the project included 12 kilometres of BT cable, 700 phone lines, and over 14,000 cups of tea and coffee!

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Through a dedicated pool channel the Feltech team transmitted live coverage of the day’s events along with key additional material from meetings at 10 Downing Street, and additional gatherings at St James’ Palace with the Prince of Wales.